Pitchside

Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium had 170,000 empty seats last season

An astonishing 170,000 seats were left empty during Arsenal's home matches last season in the Premier League.

Figures released by the Metropolitan Police Service following a Freedom of Information request shows that official figures for the London club's home games were 53,788 at the 60,338-capacity stadium - 6,550 fewer that the club claimed turned up.

Manchester United also massaged their figures with one match at Old Trafford having 25,000 fewer supporters than what the club had claimed.

The Premier League said that England top's league had enjoyed a record 95.9 per cent occupancy rate for matches last season - the highest since 1949-50.

This comes amid protests by fans about lowering the cost of tickets for the man in the street.

Speaking to the Telegraph, a spokesperson for the spokesperson for Arsenal Supporters’ Trust said: “Seeing so many empty seats at Arsenal is a tragedy when there are so many fans who can’t get a ticket or can no longer afford the prices.

“Getting more people in the stadium also creates a better atmosphere and more backing for the team so it has to be a high priority for Arsenal to address this.

“The AST has been urging Arsenal to make real investment into improving their ticket exchange arrangements and to incentivise the use of the tickets at every game by allocating cup final tickets to those who go to most games.

“It may even be time to consider removing season tickets from those who rarely attend.”